Night on Terror Island (15 page)

‘I don’t understand …’

‘Don’t worry. You just need to be aware that the caveman will be arriving somewhere near the top of the trail and whatever you do, you mustn’t run into him. Keep the Communicator on and I’ll warn you when he’s coming.’

‘Wait, wait, what about the Retriever?’

‘Ah yes. Well, I’ll have to send that in later, to a safe place. Assuming I can get it away from the Neanderthal; he seems rather attached to it.’

‘He seems
what?
’

‘Never mind, I’ll tell you where it’s going to be
once
I’ve sent it in. Now, what is it they used to say on all the best fairground rides? Oh yes. Scream if you want to go faster!’

‘But wait, we—’

‘No time, Kip. I’m hitting the button now!’

Kip’s mouth was open to ask another question but then, with a horrible lurching sensation deep in the pit of his stomach, he found himself whizzing along the jungle trail at an insane speed, trying desperately to avoid crashing into bushes and overhanging foliage. He risked glancing back once to see that Beth was right behind him, her astonished expression telling him that she was feeling just as confused as he was. And now, right on cue, the tiger appeared on the trail behind them, closing the space at incredible speed.

‘Don’t worry!’ he shrieked and his speeded-up voice made him sound like somebody who had been inhaling helium from a party balloon. ‘I think Mr Lazarus knows what he’s doing!’

‘God I hope so,’ shrieked Beth, glancing back down the trail at the huge pair of slavering jaws that were gaining on her by the second.

Mr Lazarus hoped he was doing the right thing. It was risky, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of anything else that might work. He still had his Communicator pressed to one ear, from which
issued
the sounds of frantic, speeded-up motion, feet crashing through dense undergrowth and the occasional high-pitched roar. The caveman was now swaying from side to side on the wooden platform, seemingly entranced by the music, which was still blasting from the speakers. The Retriever dangled by its chain from one of his hands, totally forgotten.

Mr Lazarus edged carefully closer and reached out his free hand for it. At the last moment, the caveman seemed to remember that he was not alone. His ugly face contorted into an expression of rage and his eyes blazed with feral anger.

‘Now, now, don’t be a difficult Neanderthal!’ Mr Lazarus told him. ‘I’m going to send you on a little trip. I’m sure you’d like that, wouldn’t you?’

Mr Lazarus glanced through the hatch at the screen, waiting for the right moment. Then he saw the start of the long panning shot. Perfect.

‘Time to go!’ he yelled.

The Neanderthal grunted and gave him a questioning look.

In the same instant Mr Lazarus grabbed the Retriever, wrenched it out of the Nenaderthal’s grasp and placed one foot against the edge of the platform. Then he pushed with all his strength, sending it gliding back into the light.

‘One large angry Neanderthal coming in!’ he yelled.

The caveman gave a despairing bellow of baffled rage and then his huge body began to shimmer and dissolve. An instant later, he was gone.

Kip heard Mr Lazarus’s voice shouting its warning and he tried to be on his guard – but it wasn’t easy racing through the jungle at a hundred miles an hour with a hungry tiger in hot pursuit.

For the moment nothing happened, but he reminded himself that Mr Lazarus was further on in the film. The Neanderthal would most likely appear somewhere along the track. He glanced briefly back and there was the tiger, gaining on him and Beth by the second, his mouth open in a ferocious snarl and those hideous, oversized teeth glittering in the moonlight.

Luckily Kip’s thoughts seemed as speeded up as his actions and, when he caught a glimpse of a heavy fallen branch at the side of the track, he managed to snatch it up without slowing his pace. He ran grimly on, steeling himself, and then he saw something materialising on the track ahead of him: a great big ugly creature with a hideous face. At the same instant there was that odd feeling of déjà vu again, but there was no time to think about that, because he knew he had to get past the Neanderthal – at all costs.

As he ran, he lifted the tree branch in both hands. The Neanderthal was moving relatively
slowly
compared to Kip and he began to turn to face the oncoming runners, an expression of dull surprise on his brutish features. As the gap closed between them, Kip swung the branch at the Neanderthal’s head and it connected with a force that would have felled an ordinary person. As it was, the creature gave a grunt of surprise and reeled back a couple of steps, enough to allow the two frantic runners to whiz by him. He recovered himself in an instant and stumbled back to the track with a bellow of rage, only to find himself stepping right into the path of a very hungry tiger.

Behind him Kip heard a stomach-churning shriek and then a heavy impact as the Neanderthal was knocked backwards into the undergrowth. Then there was what sounded like a pitched battle between tiger and Neanderthal. Kip kept right on running, not daring to look back.

For a few minutes, Kip and Beth continued to race along but then with another lurch they slowed back to normal speed. They were still running, but compared to their previous speed, it seemed as if they were just creeping along.

A few moments later, the jungle trail began to widen out and they were able to slow to a trot and then to a walk, glancing back as they did so to ensure that nothing was close enough to give them any trouble. At last they dared to come to a halt. They
stood
there, panting as they tried to get their breathing back to normal.

Beth was the first to speak.

‘That was … mental,’ she said.

Kip nodded, but for the moment, he couldn’t find words.

‘What was that about a Neanderthal at the Paramount?’ gasped Beth.

‘Oh no, he’s back in the film now,’ Kip assured her. ‘That was the one I … clouted with the stick.’ He pointed back down the trail. ‘The one who just ended up as dinner for a sabre-toothed tiger.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t help feeling a bit bad about that. He stepped right out in front of it.’

‘Never mind about him,’ snapped Beth. ‘Just be grateful it wasn’t us. Now, tell me how we’re going to get home without the Retriever.’

‘We can’t.’

‘Oh perfect. So that means we’re stuck here?’

‘No, don’t worry, Mr Lazarus is going to send the Retriever back into the film, once he finds somewhere safe to leave it.’

‘Oh really?’ Beth seemed amused by this idea. ‘And where would that be exactly?’ It was clear from the tone of her voice that she was starting to get very annoyed.

‘Maybe there,’ said Kip pointing. Up ahead of them, stark and grey in the moonlight, stood a
dilapidated
, three-storey building. ‘This must be the place Mr Lazarus mentioned,’ he added, starting forward.

‘It looks pretty scary,’ said Beth. ‘There could be all kinds of things hanging around in the shadows.’

‘Can’t help that,’ Kip told her. ‘I’m pretty sure that’s where Rose is, so that’s where we’re going.’

Beth sighed. ‘It just keeps getting better,’ she said.

‘Look, I didn’t want you to come here in the first place,’ Kip told her. ‘You insisted on tagging along.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t know you were going to lose the Retriever, did I?’

‘I didn’t
lose
it. It was taken from me; there’s a difference.’

‘You should have been more careful.’

‘Beth, a dirty great Neanderthal pulled it from around my neck. What was I supposed to do, ask him for it back?’

‘Well no, obviously, but couldn’t you have grabbed it as we ran past?’

‘How could I? He didn’t have it any more. It’s back with Mr Lazarus at the Paramount.’

‘This is so confusing,’ said Beth.

‘Well there’s no point in arguing about it now,’ said Kip. ‘Come on, we need to check this place out.’

They approached the shattered metal gates.

‘What do you make of it?’ asked Kip.

Beth frowned. ‘In films like this, they usually turn
out
to be top-secret research centres run by the
US
military,’ she said. She noticed the sign above the open door and pointed to it. ‘Bingo.’

‘Looks like the fence used to be electrified,’ observed Kip. ‘But that gate’s been hit by something big and powerful.’

‘Probably a dinosaur,’ said Beth. ‘Like in
Jurassic Park
.’

‘Wrong era,’ said Kip. ‘You don’t get Neanderthals and dinosaurs around at the same time.’

‘Tell that to the people who made
One Million Years BC
,’ said Beth. ‘If you’re expecting this film to be historically accurate, think again.’

They went in through the smashed gates and approached the building, gazing apprehensively up at the barred windows and sheer walls.

‘You really think we should go in there?’ muttered Beth.

‘We have to. I’m sure Rose is in there.’

Beth was about to reply but was interrupted by an all too familiar roar that made them both jump. They looked back the way they had come and saw the tiger emerging at the top of the jungle trail, its jaws dripping with fresh blood.

‘Oh perfect,’ said Kip. ‘Let’s get inside.’

They ran towards the open doorway at the front of the building and stepped into the gloom of what had once been the building’s foyer. Turning back,
they
grabbed the door and swung it shut. It was hanging from one hinge and needed quite a bit of effort to get it closed, the grinding sound of wood on tiled floor echoing around the big empty room. Kip noticed a strong metal bolt and slammed it home, just a few moments before a mighty impact pounded against the wood, making the whole door shudder in its frame.

Kip looked frantically about, realising that the door wouldn’t hold such a powerful creature back for very long. He noticed a rusty fridge standing off in one corner and shouted to Beth to help him with it. They ran to it and struggled to drag it across the littered floor to the doorway. They got it in position just in time and shoved it against the shuddering wood.

Kip and Beth backed away, staring fearfully at the door. Already the pounding was causing the ancient wood to shudder. Beth pointed at the barred windows. ‘Hopefully it can’t get through those,’ she said. ‘But I don’t know how long that door’s going to hold.’

‘Hopefully long enough,’ said Kip. ‘Come on, let’s find Rose.’

‘WHAT THE HELL
just happened to us?’ asked Captain Holder. It was a question that none of his companions had a ready answer for. To Rose, it had all been a bit of a blur. They’d entered the building and stood in the dark and creepy foyer, looking around. Then they’d heard a noise, a kind of snuffling, grunting sound. They’d started to search for the source of the sound but then, without any warning, they’d all been frozen in position for several moments, unable to move so much as a finger.

This was scary enough, but then something
really
weird had happened. They’d all walked rapidly backwards out of the building, retracing their steps until they were back in the jungle clearing where they’d first seen the building. There they’d stopped for a moment and Captain Holder had opened his mouth to ask what was going on … and then, totally against their will, they were moving forward again, this time at unbelievable speed. They’d raced in through the open doorway; they’d registered the strange sound and had conducted a frantic search through a whole series of creepy-looking rooms on the ground floor.

It was the kind of thing you really wanted to do as slowly and carefully as possible, but it had all been done at a flat-out sprint. They’d tried talking to each other and what had come out of their mouths had sounded like excited children babbling nonsense. Finally, they’d heard a noise in one of the rooms and had gone inside to investigate. Rose had noticed a sudden movement in one dark corner and she’d screamed, her voice sounding unbelievably shrill. This had spooked everyone and in a total panic, they’d all raced full pelt out of the room and up a staircase to the first floor.

Finally, unexpectedly, everything had slowed back to normal and here they stood, on a deserted landing, out of breath and completely baffled.